Like Father, Like Daughter
by tomboy2012
Summary: Seth and Sara did come back to Earth to visit Jack and Alex. Fifteen years ago. During their time here Seth had a girlfriend. He goes back home to fight in the war while she...takes care of buisiness. Fifteen year old Samantha feels out of place.
1. Chapter 1

…**. Race to Witch Mountain is my Fanfic kingdom now, guys. Please only comment if you want to say something about the story. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Race to Witch Mountain**

Uh, oh God. Why are alarm clocks so loud in the morning? And then I wake up at five in the morning. Okay, maybe I am exaggerating. Or maybe I am not. I have to go to work before school every day except for Wednesdays and Fridays, and every day after school. I usually have shorter shifts on, Wednesdays and Fridays, though.

I sung my legs over the side of my small bed and jumped out. I sighed as I eyed the school uniform that had been dumped on my bedroom floor. I hated that stupid thing. Why did I need to wear a uniform to school? I went to public school, too, not even private. Not like my mom could afford that.

My mom is a single mother. She was pregnant with me when I was sixteen, and my dad left. She said that he had to leave, though. To help the people that he loved and the people of his home, whatever that meant.

I think she is in denial. She has told me things about him, without wanting to tell me. She just starts _talking_ about him, like she is in a dream or something. And then when I ask a question she snaps out of it, just like that.

I like hearing about him. I know that he has blonde hair, just like me. Or, I have blonde hair just like him. Whichever makes more sense, I suppose. I have blue eyes like him. My mom says that even sometimes I act like him. I sort of feel bad for her, because she went through all of this work with me and I look nothing like her.

I fixed my hair into a long, blonde braid and tied a tie around my neck. That was my special touch. A different tie every day with different designs sort of helped me to feel more like _me. _Then I quietly headed down the stairs to grab my bag.

I still heard my mother's soft snores which meant that she was sleeping late. Again. I guess I didn't mind. I didn't want to bother her, so I just headed to the diner where we both worked. My mother worked there as well as at a dental office at nighttime.

…

"How was school, Sammy?" Tia asked me as I tied the tacky pink apron around my waist. I huffed in fake annoyance. "Tia, you know that I hate when people call me Sammy." I admonished her. She laughed a happy sound.

"I know, but you will gladly let Tia call you that because she helped take care of you when you were a little kid _every single day_. That is just the type of person Samantha is. Isn't?" She asked, turning to me with two trays full of food. She took my bag off of my shoulder.

"That's for table two, hon." She said with a smile. I delivered the food while hiding my head. It wasn't like it was a total secret that I worked in a diner. But it was a habit of mine, hiding from people. I just don't like to be seen.

I walked back behind the counter, where Tia was waiting for me. "So, how was school?" She asked, as she handed me a pile of dishes and began to wash her own. "Same as usual. I learned, sat by myself at lunch." I said, focusing on scrubbing the dishes.

Tia sighed. "Sweetie, you really should try and make some friends. Friends are nice."  
>"I don't need friends right now. We need money, or else we are going to get kicked out our apartment." I said, drying dishes as I stacked them next to the sink.<p>

"Your father was the same way as you. Didn't think he needed friends, but he did in the end. Friends are what are helping him forget about your mother and you." Tia whispered. My head shot up. "My father? You know about him?"

I whirled towards her. "Tia, you have to tell me! I have to know! He is my father! Come on!" I begged. She looked at me with sorry eyes. "I'm sorry, Sam. I can't. It is only so that we can keep you safe."

My curiosity turned into rage. "You said he needed friends to forget about me. What, he ditched us for a bunch of whores and his dumbass buddies so that he could go hang out in a bar? What, is he going to come after me?"

Tia opened her mouth to say something, but was silenced by me slamming the door.

…

"So remind me again why you guys are back?" Jack Bruno asked his alien friend Sara as he made her a hot chocolate. When she had taken the kids back to his and Alex's apartment they had looked freezing. Once they had gotten back Seth had fallen asleep on the couch while Sara stayed awake.

Sara gratefully took the steaming mug from Jack and slurped quietly. "It has been a while. Are you guys okay?" Jack asked, leaning over to look at Seth. He didn't show any emotion, he just looked tired. Jack was glad that he was resting.

"I agree. Fifteen years is a long time." Sara replied, placing her mug down on the counter. "We did visit once, though." She pointed out. "Well, you did, but then you didn't show up again for fifteen years. That kind of scares some people."

Sara shrugged. "Sorry." Jack stared at her. "You actually sound human." He realized. Sara nodded happily. "I do? I have been practicing. I want to sound more like a human, so that I can blend in." She explained.

Jack nodded. "So again, what are you guys randomly doing back here? I am happy to see you and all of that, but…" His voice trailed off.

Sara's sea blue eyes dampened. "You remember that the last time we were here, Seth had a…. what do you call it….girlfriend?" She asked slowly. Jack nodded. "Yeah, those guys were always around each other." He chuckled at the way Seth had been so protective and loving of his earthling girlfriend.

"And you remember that we had to leave early, cut out trip short?" She asked, still speaking slowly.

Jack nodded once again. He was starting to get impatient. What did a girlfriend from fifteen years ago have to do with anything?

"Jack, when we left it was because our planet was at war, a civil war because some of our people didn't believe in the experiment that our parents created. We were safe, for a period of time. Seth and Layla communicated with each other through a device that we gave her, similar to the one that we gave you. But….But…" He voice broke off at the end.

Jack walked over to Sara and put his arm around her. "What happened, Sara?" He asked in a soothing voice. "Seth went away to fight in the war. But…he was kidnapped by the other side of the planet. He was gone for four years. And….during that time, Layla had a child. A girl.

"Seth received a message from Layla, from the device that they always used. He always had it close to him, and the enemies hadn't yet taken it away because they thought that it wouldn't start a problem. Jack, they _know _that Seth has a daughter. They are after her, so that they can use her in the war. She is young, and…confused. Her mind could be easily twisted. Also, she is the daughter of Seth. He has strong powers, and we are not yet sure if she is a redael."

I tried to take this all in. "A redael is one of our kind with very strong, um, powers. If they get to her before we do then who knows what could happen? Both of our planets could be in danger."

**Whoa. Pretty weird way of starting it, I suppose. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you to ****Firestar'sniece**** and ****LivieLi**** for being the first to review. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Race to Witch Mountain**

Sam POV

_Why won't anyone tell me anything?_ I thought angrily as I looked around once I got outside for something to break. I always needed to hit something when I was mad. It always made me feel better. I looked around. There was nothing to do in the small town of Stony Creek. I didn't like being in such a small place.

I didn't even go to the school in town. It was a small old school, where several grades would be taught together by the same teacher. I hadn't liked the idea of that even though I had only been about five years old when I had started school, but my mom didn't like that idea either.

So I had started going to school in the next town over. I like that town better. It is larger, with more things to do and better things to see. I started walking towards the park that we had at the center of the town. That had been my favorite place ever since I had been younger.

I walked over and sat down under my old tree. It was my favorite tree, the tree that I learned how to climb on, that I twisted my ankle on, the tree that I had eaten picnics with my mother millions of times and was also that I had my first kiss in the eighth grade.

The thought of the kiss angered me once again. The boy was history now. He had ditched me after that for some cow of a girl, just so that he would look cool in his freak friends' eyes. I hated him for that! I had really liked him, told him all of my secrets and what I was thinking. He was my best friend.

But now he was gone. Just like me stupid father! I jumped up from under the tree. Why did people that I got close to always leave me? Was I just so horrible? I threw an angry kick to the middle of the tree just like I had done millions of times before.

Instead of hurting my foot like it usually did, the tree snapped backwards in have. My strong, heavy old tree. I stared in surprise. This wasn't possible. I stared some more. What did I do? That was humanly impossible, I knew that. So how had I done it?

I decided to tell myself that the tree had just been weak and old. But I was such a horrible liar and couldn't even lie convincingly to myself, so that thought bothered me the rest of the day. I didn't return to work, but I did feel like a jerk for yelling at Tia like that. She had always been like me second mother, and taken care of me like I was her daughter. She probably hadn't told me because she didn't want my feelings to be hurt.

And Sheriff Anthony, well those two were as thick as thieves. I laughed at myself when I thought that, just walking on the sidewalk on the way home. I was starting to sound like Tia. But seriously, those two were always around each other. They were brother and sister, so why couldn't they?

Tony was like my dad. No, he was my dad. That was what I always said. My father is my father, he helped create me, but Tony is my dad. He is actually around, unlike my father. He went to all of my little league games when I was a kid, helped me with homework when mom or Tia couldn't, and invited us all to barbecues. He did have a family of his own, a wife named Jessica and two boys- Tyler and Zach. Tia hasn't married yet, but she has had a steady boyfriend-Alex, who has been around since I was eleven.

I finally reached my apartment room and opened the door. There my mom was, sitting on the kitchen table and staring at a piece of paper in her hand. "Hello, Sam," she said without looking up. I bit my lip. Did she know what had happened at work? I already felt horrible about it, I didn't need her to lecture me and make it worse.

"Hey, Mom," I greeted her, placing my book bag on the counter. "So…what's up?" I asked, my voice squeaking a bit. She was staring at the paper the way she did at letters from debt collectors or when the letters that said that we were late on money for bills. And then there was the face that she made when something was sort of wrong and confusing, like when I was nine and the lights shut off because she forgot to play the electricity bill.

She looked up at the piece of paper, looking a bit happy, but also confused. "Honey, we are going to go to Las Vegas for a little while." I almost dropped the glass of juice I had in my hand. "What? Why? How? Money's tight-"

She cut me off. "Your grandparents live there first of all, second, I have an interview. The office that I work for recommended me for a special six week job their helping set up for some convention. It would be really good if I could get the job. It pays really well, and it wouldn't be for that long. You could go to school there for a while." She said, looking over the paper once again.

I thought this over. Las Vegas? Yeah, okay, I guess. It wouldn't be that bad, not any different from the way school was now. "That'd be cool. When are we going?" I asked, getting the mop out of the closet to clean up my sticky mess.

"I have been checking the airline fees, and I bought tickets for Friday at three in the morning." She said, looking back down at another piece of paper. "Why so early? Friday is only a few days away." I said. My mother looked sheepish. "To tell the truth, I was just excited to get there. Already spoke to Tia about it. She is going to watch the house for us."

I nodded as I went to put the mop away. When I came back into the kitchen from the closet, my mom looked up at me. "Speaking of Tia, I hear something happened at work today. Wanna talk about it?" She asked, tapping her fingers on the table.

I sighed and sat down. Just couldn't avoid the lecture.

"In danger? Like last time? Tell me what I have to do and I will do it." Jack answered Sara. "All we need to do is find the girl, right? Make sure she doesn't join the evil side. Should be easy."

Sara shook her head. "No, it won't be that easy, Jack Bru- Jack." She turned around and glanced at her brother, who was sleeping soundly. "Jack, ever since he came back home after being kidnapped… he has been….different." She whispered.

"What do you mean by _different?" _Jack asked suspiciously. Sara turned back to Jack and sighed. "He has been…distant, I guess. I can't read his mind as easily as I used to, and whenever I do he is always thinking about his daughter. He has never seen her, so I get what he imagines she might be." She said quickly.

"What's wrong with that? He is probably just a little sad. It doesn't sound like anything serious is going on." Jack said, looking over at Seth. Sara shrugged. "I guess so."

"So I say that we both get to sleep. Alex is already sleeping, so she doesn't know that you guys are here. Um, I guess you can sleep in Noelle's room, and Seth can stay down here." Jack calculated, getting up from his seat.

Sara looked confused for a moment, and then a bit nervous. "When you say Noelle's room, do you mean the room of your daughter's?" She asked. Jack nodded. "Yeah. She is thirteen now, almost fourteen. You sort of met her when you were here last; that was when Alex was pregnant with her."

Sara's eyes twinkled. "I love hearing about you and Alex's lives together. Ever since your wedding, I thought you two were like a fairytale." She turned towards Seth for a moment. "You all know what it feels like. I want to know, too." She whispered.

Jack put his arm around her. "Don't worry, Sara. You'll find love sometime." He took a good look at her. "You still look pretty young." He noticed. "Shouldn't you be like, thirty years old by now or something?" He asked.

Sara smiled and shook her head. "If we had stayed on your planet longer, maybe, but our planet's time runs differently than here on Earth. So Seth and I are twenty two years old, now. Unless we stayed here on this planet for a decent amount of years." She explained.

Jack stared at her for a moment. After a few minutes he shook his head. "I can't sit and decipher your secret alien messages right now. I am going to bed. Noelle's room is the third room down the hallway upstairs." He said, rubbing his eyes and walking towards the stairs.

Sara put her cup in the sink and slowly walked up the stairs, thinking about what might happen on this trip and giving her brother one last glance.

**Good? Bad? I don't know. I mostly know what I want to happen in each chapter, but if you guys want to suggest something please tell me something. **


	3. Chapter 3

**I haven't updated this story in….forever. Wow. The next chapter of But He Is My Brother is coming soon; it just seems to be taking **_**forever **_**to write. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Race to Witch Mountain**

Sara POV

Before I could open the door to Noelle Bruno's room the door swung open in my face. "Sara?" a girl with chocolate brown eyes and shoulder length hair stood in the doorway. A small smile appeared on my face and I nodded. Before I could say anything else her arms were around me and she was pulling me into a tight hug. "I have always wanted to meet you," she whispered as she squeezed me.

I laughed quietly. "So you have heard of me?" I asked, pulling away from her. "Are you kidding? Mom and Dad would never stop talking about you and your brother! I probably have all of their books memorized. There isn't any reason I shouldn't, I mean; I helped write four of them." She responded. "Oh, sorry. Am I rambling? Mom says I really have to stop doing that, but I usually just do it when I meet someone new. Come on; let me show you my room. You'll be sleeping there anyways." She said, opening the door to a room and pulling me in.

"This is a pretty room," I said quietly so that I would not wake up Alex. The walls were painted a light blue, and the top was painted a black color, and there were glow in the dark stars and chalk all over the black paint. She had trophies lined up on a bureau drawer, and drawings and paintings hung up all around the room. There was a small alcove with a desk, laptop computer, and a bookshelf filled with books.

"Thanks," Noelle replied, walking over to the bookshelf. "These are Mom and Dad's books. All seven of them." She said, looking up at me. "What are these trophies for?" I asked her, walking over to the drawer. "Oh, those old things? Those are from when I used to box. I don't do that anymore; I am more into basketball and gymnastics now." I nodded once. "When you say boxing, you do mean the sport or practice of fighting with the fists with padded gloves in a roped square ring according to prescribed rules, correct?" I confirmed.

She looked at me and stared for a moment, but then started to laugh. "I'm sorry. Mom and Dad always said that you guys talked like computers, but I never believed them." She lay down on her bed and started to laugh more. I blushed. "Sorry," I apologized. "I am trying to sound more human when I am on Earth, but it can get hard when everyone on my planet speaks a certain way and everyone here speaks another way." I explained to her, hoping that she would understand.

She nodded. "Sorry. You actually don't sound that bad. I would believe that you are human." She said with a smiled. I returned the favor, but she just sighed. "Sorry, I am doing all of the talking. Am I making you feel uncomfortable? I don't even have to talk; you could probably just read my mind, right?" She asked, flopping off of the side of her bed. I giggled. "That _is _true. But I have been trying not to read people's minds the way I used to, because they seem to find it rude." I made a face as I sat down on the bed next to her and she laughed in return.

"You are really trying to act more human, huh? Well, I guess reading minds could get annoying. You would hear things that you wouldn't want to hear at times." I nodded. "It is….refreshing how you understand. Most people on my planet do not understand, let alone a human." She sat up and grinned. "That's me!" She bounced up on the bed and almost hit her head on the wall. I tried not to giggled, but I knew that she understood. "It's alright, go ahead and laugh at Noelle, the biggest klutz in the universe." She grumbled, throwing herself back onto her bed. Soon I was laughing up to the point where I thought I couldn't breathe, and then she started laughing along with me.

When I could finally stop laughing, I looked up at the clock above Noelle's desk. "It is approximately three thirty in the morning." I said, turning to Noelle. "Shouldn't we be sleeping by now?"  
>Noelle gave me a look as if I were crazy. "Sleeping? No way! You are the first female friend that I have had in a lifetime. This is a sleepover, and girls don't sleep at sleepovers." She lectured me.<p>

I watched as she walked over to her drawer and pulled something out. "So, do you know what a cootie catcher is?"

…

Samantha POV

I clutched at the cup of coffee in my hand as I sat in my seat on the plane-flight 210 to Las Vegas, Nevada. My mother finished packing away our carry-ons in the space above our seats and laughed at me. "You look like you are being sentenced to death." She pointed out. I glared at her; I was in no mood for her jokes right now. I hated planes. At any given moment they could crash or breakdown, and there went _so_ many people's lives…

"You look _so much_ like your father." My mother observed, looking at me as if she were in a dream-like state. I stopped the rant that was going on in my head. "Really?" I asked. She instantly snapped out of it, which had been beginning to annoy me lately. Why didn't I have a right to know anything about him? After all, he was _my _father.

"Never mind that," she said briskly. She sat down in the seat next to me. "Are you excited about our trip?" She asked me, trying to ovoid the subject. I sighed loudly. "I guess I would be, if it didn't involve me starting a new school." I moaned. "Did you know that when I was your age I used to move all over the place because of Grandpa's job? I never did have one real friend. Except for…" Her voice trailed off, and she looked away.

"Mom, you can tell me. I am old enough now; it isn't like I am a little kid." I said quietly, patting her back. She sighed. "Would you really want to hear about your father? I am not sure if a plane ride to the place I met him would be the right moment…" She looked around at the other passengers, who were doing anything but noticing us.

"Why don't you just ask me some questions? Okay, so you are sixteen-"  
>"Practically seventeen," I cut her off to point out. She sighed. "Fine, almost seventeen. But you only get to ask six questions, because you are still <em>technically <em>sixteen years old." She said sternly. I sighed, because that really seemed to be my thing today. "Take it or leave it," My mother pointed out. "Fine. Okay, how did you guys meet?"

She seemed like she had to think about it for a while, but I think that she was just doing it to throw me off. "He was visiting with some good friends of his family in Vegas, and that was where Gram, Grandpa and I had been living. They still live there, you know. The longest place that we ever stayed," She said with a sigh.

"Mom, you're rambling." I pointed out to her. I was about to say more, but the look that she gave me shut me up. "Next question."  
>I thought for a moment. "What did he look like?" I asked, starting to play with my hands. She looked up at me with thoughtful eyes. "You know," she started. "You look just like him." She said with a tentative smile. She looked as if she were going to tear up, so I gripped her hand. "Why don't I just save the rest of my questions for later?" I suggested. She nodded, while wiping her hands over her eyes. "I think that would be best."<p>

**Okay, so you don't really learn anything in this chapter. Sorry for that! I just wanted to update a story so that people would know that I am alive. **


	4. Chapter 4

Alex slid a dark cup of liquid towards Sara, making the young woman blink slowly as if she were just realizing where she was. "I'm guessing that my dear daughter corralled you into one of her all night sleepovers." Alex said with a smirk. She could just tell that Sara hadn't slept all night, though she wasn't sure that her daughter of have let the young woman get some sleep in the first place. In retrospect, she realized that she should've had Sara sleep in a different room.

"I had not realized what joining this so called 'sleep over' with Noelle Bruno would entail." She sighed, wrapping her hand around the cup of coffee greedily. Her eyebrows furrowed slightly for a minute, before she quickly brought the cup to her lips and drowned the cup in practically one sip. "I thought that you didn't have coffee on your planet." Alex stated; one of her eyebrows arched. Sara looked back down at her cup, looking dejected. "You and many other humans think very fondly of this so called 'coffee', though I do not see why it is so popular."

"You know what; I think that Noelle said that first thing when she first tried it, too." Alex laughed, walking back into the kitchen. "Sara!" Noelle squealed, jumping down the stairs and running towards her new friend. Sara tried not to wince, but she wasn't in the mood for anymore truth or dare with the younger girl. Alex seemed to sense this, turning to the pouring a cup of orange juice and thrusting it into her daughter's hand. "Drink." She commanded gently, and though Noelle looked confused, she obeyed. Sara watched with wide eyes as Noelle gulped down the cup of juice, and was reminded of Jack Bruno's eating habits.

Sara realized that her friend wasn't present at the breakfast table, and her brow furrowed. If she knew anything about Jack Bruno, it was that he never missed a meal. "Where is Jack Bruno?" Sara asked Alex, and Noelle turned to her mother with wide eyes. She couldn't imagine where her father could have gone, especially because Jack Bruno wasn't known to be a morning person. "Yeah, where is he, Mom?" Noelle asked, curious. Alex bit her lip. "He's out buying…_supplies." _She resolved, before pausing.

"Noelle, maybe you should call Amanda and find out if the two of you can hang out today." She suggested, and Noelle looked dejected. "Why? The super cool alien people that you've been telling me about all of my life come back for a visit and you want me to hang out with _Amanda?" _Noelle asked incredulously. She looked between her mother and Sara, her chocolate brown eyes hardening. "There's something going on, something that you don't want to tell me about." She reasoned, and Alex frowned, rubbing her forehead with one of her hands.

"Amanda is your best friend, Noe." Alex tried again, though her excuses were becoming weaker by the second. "You haven't gotten together with her in a long time, and I figured that you would want to spend time with her." She turned to Sara, looking for help, but Sara could offer none. She knew that Noelle felt betrayed and lied to, but the girl's thoughts also told her that this wasn't the first time that this was happening.

"We went to the movies last weekend." Noelle huffed, folding her arms together. Alex's eyebrows rose at the change in attitude, and she was about to retort when Seth's large form entered the room. His sleepy blue eyes moved swiftly from all of the females in the room, pausing on each of them for only half of a second. "Seth," Alex breathed, clearly relieved that she had avoided an argument with her daughter. She turned back to the coffee pot and grabbed a cup from a counter while Seth just stood in the doorway. Sara hated the way that she couldn't read her brother's thoughts any longer. She missed the way that the pair was able to communicate on a higher level. Somehow, it brought the two of them even closer than they were. However, since Seth had returned from the war, he had been like an empty shell. Sara couldn't read anything from him, even though she knew that there had to be thoughts running through her brother's mind.

"Do _you _know what's going on around here?" Noelle turned to Seth, one hand on her hip. Most people were intimidated by Seth before he had gone to fight in the war, but more people were intimidated by him now. His clear blue eyes always seemed to be hard, holding a secret that he wouldn't tell anyone. He barely spoke, his facial expressions barely changing. He barely responded to anything that occurred around him. He was a fraction of the person that he used to be.

"_Noelle," _Alex hissed, before placing a cup of coffee that was identical to Sara's on the breakfast table. When Seth continued to stand in the doorway, seeming lost, Alex's dark eyes filled with worry and she glanced at Sara worriedly. "It has been like this ever since he came back," She sighed, looking down at her empty cup. She studied the dark ring left from the coffee closely, trying to avoid Alex's eyes. She didn't want to answer any more questions about her brother's state, and she knew that if she looked at Alex everything would spill out. Sara had been holding too much inside of herself for too long, and she was sure that she would burst at any time.

"It's coffee." Noelle stated, breaking the silence. There was still an edge to her voice, but she seemed to soften when she noticed the change of atmosphere in the room. "You drink it, even though it's totally disgusting." She remarked, a small smile gracing her lips. Seth only stared at the young girl, as if just realizing that she was in the room. Noelle blinked a few times, before turning to Sara. "Is he deaf?" She asked. Sara could tell that the young girl meant well, but her blunt ways were clearly not a hit with her mother.

As Alex reprimanded her daughter, Seth slowly inched towards the breakfast table. Sara tried not to pay too much attention to him, because she knew that if she observed him that way that she really wanted to, he would jump back and flee the room. It had happened many times already, and Sara was determined to do things right this time. By the time that Alex was through lecturing Noelle about the importance of minding her own business and thinking before she spoke, Seth had already dashed out of the room, the cup of coffee nowhere to be found.

* * *

><p>"Sammy! Oh, look at you! You're like a rose bush after a week of rain, only not as wet, and twice as pretty!" Andrew Mason pulled his granddaughter in for a tight hug. "Grandpa," Sam breathed out through her teeth. "I can't breathe."<p>

"Oh, you don't need breathing when you're with family!" Alexandra laughed as she walked up to the front door, greeting her daughter and granddaughter. "How was your flight?" She asked no one in particular as she helped Sam to carry in her luggage. It was about ten in the morning, and though Sam and her mother had reached the Mason house earlier, they hadn't properly greeted each other until this morning. The teenager rolled her eyes, swatting her grandmother away. "Grandma, I got this." She shook her head, carrying her luggage inside of the house. "I don't want you to hurt yourself." She called as an afterthought, and Alexandra shook her head. "That's a smart mouth that you've got there." She smiled, and Sam shrugged. "Yeah, well, you know. Global warming." She mumbled, and Alexandra bopped her across the head. "What does _that _have to do with anything?" She asked. "I don't know. Everyone blames everything on global warming these days." Sam shrugged.

When Alexandra and Sam entered the house again, Andrew and his daughter seemed to be deep in conversation. Samantha noticed that her mother seemed to be on the brink of tears, and Andrew had his arms folded seriously. Samantha took a double take. Her grandfather was _never_ serious about anything. "Is everything alright?" She asked tentatively, and both of the adults' heads turned towards her. "Of course." Andrew recovered quickly, loosening up his body language. "Your mother and I were just saying how we think that you should go explore Vegas a bit."

Sam's eyebrows rose up towards the ceiling. "I'm sixteen, you know. There isn't a whole lot for me to do in Vegas." She reminded them, looking between the two adults as if they had lost her mind. Sam knew that there had been a period when her mother had an issue with alcohol, which was pretty much when Tia had stepped in, for the most part. She wondered if this sudden revelation had something to do with that. "Well, yes, we know that, but everyone needs to have a little fun now and then, right, Lay?" Her grandpa asked brightly, clapping her mother on her back.

Layla's lip was still trembling, but she seemed to be trying to keep a brave face on for her daughter. "Of course." She smiled a wobbly smile, though Sam wasn't fully convinced. "Are you sure?" She asked, turning to her grandmother, who seemed to be having a silent conversation with her grandfather through their eyes. "Positive." Alexander said, turning to Sam with a smile as fake as a Barbie doll.

* * *

><p>"So…" Alex started, moving over towards Sara. "Has this," She shrugged a shoulder over towards Seth, "Been going on long?" She asked cautiously. She didn't want to upset either of the siblings, though she felt that she had a right to know what was going on. Sara glanced over at her brother, before nodding quickly. "He just…" She trailed off, not knowing how to summarize everything that had happened in a way that wouldn't worry Alex. She was like a mother figure to the siblings, and Sara knew that she would be worried if Sara told her the full story.<p>

"Spaces out a lot?" Noelle answered for her, gazing at Seth warily. "Noelle, what did I tell you?" Alex sighed, and Noelle rolled her eyes. "I'm just trying to help." She mumbled under the breath, before walking ahead of the group. Alex shook her head, before turning back to Sara. The young woman knew that Alex wasn't going to leave her alone based on her thoughts, but Sara wasn't sure if she could answer any more questions.

"He just hasn't been himself." Sara decided on, and though Alex still looked concerned, she decided to let the subject drop, even though Noelle seemed to have other plans. "Hey, where'd your brother go?"

* * *

><p>"Get away from me!" Sam exclaimed for what had to be the millionth time, but the creeper didn't stop following her. "But you're so pretty…" He slurred, taking another step into her personal space, making Sam uncomfortable. "Relax; I'm not going to hurt you." He added, and Sam would've rolled her eyes if she wasn't in panic mode. She knew that it wasn't a good idea to give a hundred bucks to a sixteen year old and let her wander around Vegas aimlessly, especially if she didn't know the city.<p>

Sam turned back around to continue to walk away, but the creep grabbed the collar of her shirt. "Hey, you're being so rude…" He smiled, and Sam realized that he didn't have all of his teeth. The older man began to pull at Sam's close, and the teenager snapped. "I _said _get _off_!" She roared, pushing the man back with both her hands. To her surprise, the man didn't just move back, but fell into a car parked along the street. Sam winced when she heard the crack of one of his bones, and her eyes widened when she saw the large dent that had been left in the car. It looked as if a rhino had come and decided to ram into the side of the truck, not like a teenage girl had pushed some guy into it.

Sam's mind began to reel, and she thought back to her tree that she had snapped. _What was going on here?_

"I'm so sorry…" Sam gasped, cupping her mouth with both of her hands. "I didn't mean-" She started, but was silenced by the man pushing her into the wall of one of the buildings that surrounded them. "You little _bitch!_" He hissed, and Sam's eyes narrowed. Here she was, apologizing for defending herself, and the guy thought that he was going to push her? That wasn't how things worked.

"What the-" Sam started, her eyes narrowing into slits. The man slapped her across the face, creating a stinging sensation on the side of Samantha's face. She reached up to feel the spot where he had slapped her, and was sure that he had left a mark. She was about to speak again when the guy kicked her in the stomach, and she doubled over in pain. Sure, she had gotten into fights before, but this was different. The worse part had to be that there seemed to be no one around to help her. "Bet you're sorry now, huh? You little freak!" He screamed, getting ready to kick the girl again.

Sam curled her chin into her chest and squeezed her eyes shut, but the blow never came. She heard the sound of grunting and the when she heard yelling she opened her eyes slowly, prepared to snap them shut if she decided that she didn't like what she was going to see.

Her blue eyes widened when she saw a blonde man, who had to be at least six foot, holding the guy that had attacked her upside down by his leg. Sam was sure that the blonde guy was saying something to the older guy, but she couldn't focus on anything. The man, this man had saved her… but he looked just like her. The same blond hair and blue eyes. Sam tried to remind herself that there were lots of people out in the world who had blonde hair and blue eyes but this guys seemed…_different_. She had a weird feeling in her stomach now that he was here, though she was sure that it could've been from shock, or from the kick that she had just received to the stomach.

Sam blinked a few times before the blonde man dropped her attacker and he struggled to get up on his feet once more. Sam was sure that he was about to run away, but he surprised her by grabbing her wallet that had fallen out of her pocket and running down the street. "HEY!" The blonde man yelled after him, but Sam shook her head, standing up on her shaky feet. "Forget about it. It wasn't anything important, anyway." She lied. She could just tell her family that she had spent the hundred bucks on…uh, a movie. Or something.

The man blinked at her and studied her face for a few moments. Sam held her breath when his eyes met hers, and she was sure that he was feeling something weird before his eyes snapped away and he looked down at her stomach, where she had been hit. "I'm, uh, fine." She stuttered, suddenly feeling bashful. She didn't want to be a damsel in distress, some little girl that a man would have to come and save. She could take care of herself.

The man narrowed his eyes, which zoned in on her stomach, and on the mark that she was sure that was growing on her face. Sam grabbed the side of her face bashfully. "I'm serious!" She protested, and then decided to change the subject. "Thank you." She said genuinely, and the man avoided her eyes. "I would, uh, give you something but…I mean," She stuttered, averting her eyes to the ground.

The man nodded, and when Sam looked up she realized that he was still staring at her. "You aren't exactly a man of many words, are you?" She joked, and she was surprised to see the man smirk a bit. "Look, I mean, if you ever need anything, I'm here." Sam decided on, clapping her hands together. The man's eyes zoned in on the ring on Sam's finger, and she blushed, looking down at it. "Oh, uh…it's my moms." She explained haphazardly. "My dad gave it to her, or something." She admired the ring herself.

"It doesn't look like a rock from here, which is why I stole it." She smirked. When she looked up at the man, his eyes were wide and filled with an unknown emotion. "You alright, dude?" She asked, an eyebrow raised towards the sky. The man nodded quickly, seeming to snap out of his trance. "I'm Samantha, but prefer to be called Sam." Sam introduced herself, holding out her hand. When the man just stared at her hand, she laughed.

"You shake it." She explained gently, and watched as the man grabbed her hand in his large one and shook it slowly as he cleared his throat. Sam raised an eyebrow. "Your name?" She asked expectantly.

"Seth."

* * *

><p><strong>Wow. I can't believe I wrote that. Now, off to homework time…<strong>_**joy.**_

**Thanks to:**

**Firestar'sniece**

**Haz**

**BubbleBoo28**


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